August 2010 SPECIAL
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Enrichment Tip of the Month
by Kris Porter | I wrap treats in corn
husks to make little tamale surprises.
First I soak corn husks in warm water for about 15 minutes to get them
pliable then drain them in a colander. I
take one whole corn husk and cut or peel it into ¼ inch strips to use for
ties. I wrap an in-shell almond or
walnut half in one corn husk and tie it
up with one of the strips. Almonds are
smaller so you may find it easier to wrap if you cut the corn husk in half
first.
Once I have the tamale
surprises rolled and tied, I put them on stainless steel baking racks to dry
overnight. I like to use the baking
racks because air can circulate on all sides of the wraps. The corn husks dry quickly and thoroughly
which helps prevent mold from growing on a wet husk. I don't store them in closed plastic
containers or bags either. I store mine
in a plastic storage drawer that fits under the cage. The drawer isn't airtight and it is easily
accessible to me for on-the-spot dispensing.
My parrots favor these
tamale surprises to such extent that I have started wrapping non-food items
inside the corn husks. I wrap up small
foot toys, plastic animal shapes, large textured plastic beads or pieces of
bird safe wood and mix those in with the nut filled corn husk wraps. Sometimes they get a nut and sometimes they
don't. But they are always eager to tear
into their tamale surprise to get at whatever toy or treat is inside.
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I hope everyone is enjoying the last weeks of summer and staying cool!
This month we are featuring a great article written by Maggie Wright on the topic of teaching your bird to talk. Originally published in the Alex Memorial issue of Nature's Corner Magazine, this article discusses how we can adapt the principles of the model rival method used to teach Alex for use within our own homes.
Additionally, if you love reading about relationships and adventures with all kinds of birds, Amy Hopkins has written an entertaining review of the wonderful book "Wesley the Owl" for our newsletter. Be sure to check out the videos about Wesley by following the "read more" link!
Just a short note from me this month, the Avian Enrichment Forum is off to a good start with more people signing up every day. The randomly chosen winners ($25 gift certificates) of the forum signup and post contest are: - BirdLover2
- CarmieJo
- LauraFord
We will be running more contests over on the forum. In fact, there is a new contest again this month. Don't be shy, come on over and check us out here. |
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Copyright © Arlene Levin-Rowe | |
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Teaching Your Bird To Talk
by Maggie Wright
Birds learn to talk in order to communicate their needs; and once they understand the "power" of their words, the fact that they can get what they want by talking, many of them will learn to talk. Most of us cannot teach our birds exactly like Alex because 1) first, we do not have the time and 2) secondly, we do not always have partners that are free to help us conduct Model/Rival techniques. However, we can use some of the principles from the M/R system and assimilate them into an easier system for the "average" pet human, which we already know is well below the "average" African Grey Master! Nevertheless, this is what I shall attempt in this article.
WHAT MADE ALEX LEARN?
First of all, we know that all wild birds learn their vocalizations by copying their parents and other flock members. They watch, they listen and they practice. They learn by socially interacting with their parental teachers. Similarly, Alex's trainers provided "Full Social Interaction" by interacting with him in the room, showing and demonstrating the object that he was learning to label and then giving him the object when he correctly labeled it.
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Book Review: Wesley the Owl
by Amy Hopkins
 Wesley the Owl, subtitled, "The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl" is an absolutely delightful read. On Valentine's Day, 1985, the author, biologist Stacey O'Brien, met a four-day -old baby barn owl with nerve damage in his wing. O'Brien was an assistant in an owl laboratory at Caltech, and was recruited to give Wesley a permanent home. If you substituted the word "parrot" for "owl", this book would look very familiar! Wesley played with toys, loved head scritches and groomed like a parrot. He freaked out if O'Brien changed her hairdo and to her chagrin, even tried to mate with her arm.
But her embarrassment was nothing compared with her reaction when she realized that Wesley considered feeding mice to his mate an essential part of lovemaking! She found this out one night when he dropped a mouse into her open mouth while she was asleep. Yuck!! You can read her hilarious attempts to ...
Read More |
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Parrot Puzzler
Using the letters in the word hyacinth, see how many common 3, 4, 5 and 6 letters words can you find? (Click here for Deb's list)
Quote of the Month
"Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way." - John Muir
Birds in the News!
Funny Video of the Month
Check out a funny new bird video here.
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Save 10% Off Everything! | | Save 10% Off site wide now through August 31, 2010. Coupon code AEAUG10 automatically applied at checkout. | | Offer Expires: August 31, 2010 |
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